Dominos is a well known game that is played with hexahedronal tile pieces, each of which have an upper, obverse, rectangular playing face that is divided into two, square, indicia-presenting portions. The laterally spaced, longer sides of the rectangular playing face are each twice the length of the shorter sides, thus permitting the playing face to be divided into two, square, indicia-presenting portions. A number of dots may be embossed, or imprinted, on each square portion of the playing face to serve as indicia. In addition, one or both of the square portions may be left blank inasmuch as a blank may constitute one form of the indicia. The thickness of the tile--as measured to reflect the dimension of each edge surface which extends between the obverse and the reverse faces on each tile--is generally on the order of about one-third the dimension of the shorter sides of the rectangular, obverse playing face in order to permit the tile to stand on its side and thereby preclude competitors from seeing the indicia on any of the opponent's tile.
The domino game tile are believed to have originated in the eighteenth century, and it is thought that the domino was inspired by the presentation of indicia on the exposed, upwardly facing surfaces of a pair of dice. As such, the playing surface of a set of dominos represent all twenty-one (21) of the numerical combinations that could be presented by a pair of dice. By adding the blank as an additional indicia, the number of distinctly different tile available for a domino game was increased to twenty-eight (28). With a standard domino game, the indicia appearing on each square indicia-presenting portion is, in addition to the blank surface, limited to from one (1) to six (6) dots. This basic version is sometimes designated as a "double-six" domino set.
A version of the game entitled "double-nine" dominos, that also has only a rectangular playing surface on each tile, is also available. As might be expected, the number of dots utilized in that version of the game number from one (1) to nine (9), inclusive, and even in that version one or both of the square areas may be blank. The double-nine set provides fifty-five (55) distinctly different tile.
In an effort to increase the number of playing pieces even further, it is known to combine two or more sets of dominos. Thus, with two, double-six sets fifty-six (56) tile are available, and with two, double-nine sets one hundred and ten (110) tile are available. The use of a double-nine set, or combining two or more domino sets, will increase the total number of plays available, but the strategy of the game will not be affected.
The game of dominos is played by abutting the ends, or edges, of an indicia-presenting portion on one domino to an end, or edge, of an indicia-presenting portion on another domino--the rules requiring that the indicia on the abutting, indicia-presenting portions have the same numerical value. As the game is played, an orthogonal pattern is developed. That is, all of the tile are abutting at an included angle of either ninety degrees (90.degree.) or one hundred eighty degrees (180.degree.). Due to the use of square indicia-presenting surfaces, the number of combinations, and therefore the number of distinctly different tile, is limited. Also, the patterns made while playing are limited to orthogonal displays.